Tablets take over as connected devices to reach 15 million

The number of connected devices will reach the 15 million mark in the next four years, predict industry experts.

By 2015, the number of connected devices will almost triple from 6 billion to 15 million, Intel manager Michelle Tinsley revealed in her NIweek keynote on Monday.

This fluctuation in consumer electronics means that on average every person on the planet will own two mobile devices or more.

"As the world and things become more connected there is a natural progression to make those "things" more intelligent," says Tinsley.

"We should be expecting more from our appliances, systems and the computing devices that we interact with."

The handheld trend was bucked by the frenzy of Apple's iPad in 2010 and as smart phones and as tablets become more intelligent, a surge in consumers buying touchscreen technology is expected.

The latter quarter of 2010 alone saw sales of 4.5 million tablets and by 2014 it is estimated tablet sales will top the 58 million mark.

Apple manager Tim Cooke acknowledges the success of the iPad and other tablet devices, with the assurance that in several years time tablet device sales will have eclipsed the PC market entirely.

Reinforcing the dominance of tablet technology in the computing market is a recent statement by technology giant Cisco; they estimate that by 2015 internet traffic from PCs will have dropped by at least 10 per cent.

The remaining traffic will come from smartphone and tablet users, marking our migration towards the convenience of handheld devices.